Well today I did my 2nd solo IAD jump.One of the skydivers there gave me a pair of gloves and my instructor said they would work fineI was fine in the plane, had my nerves under control even when the door opened. I was stepping out on the step, getting ready to dangle...as soon as my feet started to dangle I felt my hands slip off....damn GLOVES! I was pretty pissed..Probably scared the heck out of my instructor cause she didn't even tell me to go.

Had a rough landing..tried to land on my feet and I did but it was so hard my knee basically hit my chin...well it was a good skydive because I walked away and will be another story to tell one day. They told me I should find gloves...but I'm not sure where to look. I'm weird about spending money and I don't want the same thing to happen again next time I go. Btw, first time I went I didn't have gloves and I was able to dangle with no problem...But they said after a certain temperature the USPA requires gloves...Any suggestions?!

The "go to" gloves for skydiving are Newman's. But, they are apparently stopping to make them. They are what's called "tackified" which means the leather palm is slightly sticky. Square 1 makes knockoffs, ut they are slightly less tacky.

You could also get football receiver's gloves. Some are VERY tackified.

There are lots of options for gloves. I and many others use baseball batting gloves. Some argue against tackified gloves. Definitely avoid gloves that have insulation between the inner and outer layer ()like ski gloves) that allow motion between the layers. The search function will give you more than enough opinions to consider:

I haven't found warm gloves I really like. I'm a fan of neoprene, but none of the sporting good stores around here carry any. Or really any good gloves at all, really. I think this is why the Internet is killing retail. I usually use a pair of bionic weight lifting gloves. They're not particularly warm, but they don't get in the way of my skydive either.

I also got some a grip master and powerball hand exerciser when I started the sport. I figured it might be a good idea to have a solid death grip in skydiving! It helps when I'm climbing around on the outside of the king air like a spider monkey. Plus, if you meet one of those people who thinks handshakes are a competition, you can crush their bones. Bonus!

As for your landing, it's hard to say without looking at it. I'm sure it's a great idea to take landing advice from random people on the internet, too. With that in mind, it's usually either that you flared too high or didn't flare hard enough.

I assume they don't talk you down on the radio, or you could just ask them what you did wrong. Did you have a good idea of wind direction when you came down? Maybe you could get a friend or another skydiver to video a landing?

You can get away with a good bit if you have a decent PLF. If you're not comfortable with it, find some place open and padded and practice it. Maybe even intentionally PLF your next couple of landings so you can do it like it's second nature when you need to. Eventually you'll know within a split second of flaring if you need to or not.

A few generic pointers I've picked up on landing:

- Arms all the way up on approach. You want to save your power for your flare, and braking will only mess that up. - Always be ready to PLF. - Take a canopy course ASAP after you get out of training. If they'll let you do it during your coaching jumps prior to your A license, do it. Good canopy skills could save your life one day.

I'm going to start working out way more! The only part of my body that hurts today is my left arm. I have little bruises on both shoulders, but my shoulders don't hurt. Thought I would be limping today from that landing, but I iced my ankle on and off last night and it's fine today. I'm pretty lucky.

I'll admit I freaked out yesterday, was a little shaken from my hands slipping. I didn't even arch so that's probably what the shoulder bruises are from. I never look at the ground while coming closer to it. I felt like I was coming in too fast and flared too early but kept my arms down. My instructor said that I flared a few seconds before I was supposed to. I don't remember the wind direction but yesterday the winds were 4-6 mph.

No big deal slipping off the strut. That's what you're up there to do! As an instructor, I couldn't care less.

Women tend to have smaller hands than men. If the back edge of the strut is against your wrist when you hang, that's a lever fulcrum prying your fingers off the strut. I can hang all over a C-182 like a monkey but once fell off the strut of a much larger aircraft because of that very effect. There was no damn way I could hang on.

That was proper procedure for students landing round parachutes (looking straight out at the horizon), but you won't be standing up your landings unless you change that. Talk to your instructors on how to do it.

I used to use leather handball gloves. An inexpensive glove we use here at work is a nitrile foam coated woven synthetic glove from "Advanced Gloves" Not particularly warm but prevents conduction heat loss and has a very secure grip with good feel. They appear to run a little small but are pretty stretchy. No idea where we get them but we buy cases of them, so they have to be out there somewhere...

I wear scuba gloves. Leather on the palm and the wet suit stuff on the outside, they are warm, never slipped while "dangling". Also, never gave me a bad landing. Did chop the finger tips off thoguh for the cam, and just a better feel for the smaller stuff.

Also, I would suggest you wear your gloves for a day or two before you jump with them. Makes you comfy about it.